VEEP TALK REACHING A BOILING POINT
July 29th, 2008, 11:13 am · 1 Comment · posted by Dan Lehr
On the Democratic side:
Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine is front & center stage.
Read more at ABC News.
Here’s Kaine’s Wikipedia entry.
Here’s what he told reporters earlier today (Tuesday) about the rumors.
What do I think?
I think this is a major head-fake on Obama’s part. My rule for watching the Veepstakes (Democratic side only): If a major name is mentioned, it automatically throws him out of the running. I believe deep down to my core that Obama’s gonna pick a name that has been off the radar.
By the way, that line of thinking keeps Bill Richardson in play, for what it’s worth.
More on Kaine now from MSNBC’s First Read (I’ve added emphasis):
Kaine’s strengths: He helps with the battleground of Virginia; reinforces Obama’s outside the Beltway message (although part of his state happens to be inside the Beltway); also reinforces Obama’s emphasis on faith (he’s a devout Catholic); speaks fluent Spanish (once serving as a missionary in Honduras); and is close to Obama.
Kaine’s weaknesses: He has little name ID across the country; has no national security experience; and it’s debatable how much more support Obama might gain in Virginia with Kaine on the ticket — given that Mark Warner and Jim Webb are also campaigning for him and given that Kaine’s geographic strength in the state is fairly similar to Obama’s. The Obama campaign isn’t one that likes to surprise [Couldn't disagree more. -Vote08]. Could it be they are sending a signal that Kaine is very likely, and if you don’t speak now Dem special interest groupies, forever hold your peace? [No. -Vote08]
Also, go back to our earlier post about this Zogby poll asking which potential veep would bring more Dems & Independents over to the Obama column. Kaine only brought 8% more likely voters among both Dems & Indies. Compare those numbers to who won the poll at 42%.
Who won? My longshot (& official) veep pick: Colin Powell.
p.s.: It looks like Hillary fans will not be happy.
On the Republican side..
Romney still looks to be the favorite from where I sit — although Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is also mentioned at the top of the list. Here’s a compare/contrast piece on what each of the two men could bring to the ticket.
Time’s Mark Halperin is playing my Democratic veep-watching game (see above) with the GOP (the ultimate pick will be one off the media radar). Read more about it here.
Today’s Washington Times has an article on how a McCain-Romney ticket would not please evangelical Christians in the slightest.
Read an article giving odds on all of the potential GOP veeps at RealClearPolitics, here.
My longshot pick: Sarah Palin.
But enough from me! What do you, dear reader, think? Let ‘er rip in the comments section!
July 29th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Gov. Palin, for all her strengths, might be perceived (rightly or not) to be too close to the rampant corruption in her state’s slate of high-ranking politicians. Today’s indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens can’t help with that.
On the flip side to that, though: women voters who are still miffed because Sen. Hillary Clinton did not clinch the Democratic Party nomination might edge toward voting for a McCain-Palin ticket.
It’s a fun game, but we just won’t know until we know. For the record, I submitted Gov. Tim Kaine and Gov. Tim Pawlenty as my picks in a contest some weeks ago. The current buzz has my hopes up, sort of. But you could be right about the head-fake.